Abstract: A comprehensive collection of
approximately 48,000 photographic prints, transparencies, slides and negatives in
black-and-white and color by a self-taught photographer and practicing architect who
traveled widely, documenting the art, architecture, and landscape of the Middle East,
Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Western United States. Also included are a small
quantity of correspondence with publishers, agents, colleagues and friends, sales accounts,
a manuscript, research notes, and a copy of his master's thesis.

Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this
collection. Click here for the
access policy .

Language: Collection material is in
English

Biographical/Historical Note

1927: Born Willem Albertus Swaan September 6 in Kokstad, South Africa.

1950: Bachelor of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

1950-1951: Travelled in Europe and Egypt. Worked for Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew in London on
the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

1952-1960: Returned to South Africa. Worked for Andrews and Niegeman in Cape Town. Moved to
H. H. Le Roith and Partners, Johannesburg, first as an employee, later as partner in charge
of design. Projects: apartment buildings, schools, industrial and commercial buildings.

1958: Master of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Thesis:
"Low-cost housing: a survey of economic and sub-economic housing for the lower-income groups
with special reference to housing European families with children in South Africa," written
while Swaan worked as a full-time architect for Le Roith and Partners. Later attended the
Yale School of Organization and Management and the Harvard University Graduate School of
Design.

1979: Elek Books Ltd. sold to Granada Publishing. Published only one other book after this
point.

1981: Director of Health Facilities Planning in Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum's New York
office. Oversaw the new Veterans Administration Hospital, Manhattan, addition, and other
large health facilities located throughout the United States.

1990: Received a special citation from the American Institute of Architects for
distinguished achievement as a historian and photographer of the art and architecture
created by diverse cultures throughout the world.

1994: Retired as Director of Design at Architecture for Health, Science and Commerce,
Tarrytown, NY.

A comprehensive collection of photographs, approximately 34,450 black-and-white negatives,
contact prints and enlargements and approximately 13,450 color transparencies, slides and
prints by a self-taught photographer and practicing architect who traveled widely and
published many large-format books devoted to the art and architecture of various cultures.
Included are a small quantity of correspondence with publishers, agents, colleagues and
friends, sales statements, research notes, a manuscript, and a copy of his master's
thesis.

Most images, taken in situ between 1951-1995, reflect Swaan's interest in facades,
architectural details and decoration. Main concentrations include Gothic, Medieval, Baroque
and Renaissance Europe, Islamic Spain and Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and Iran, Ancient Egypt and
Greece, Asia, including India, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka,
Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America, and the landscape of the American West.

Arrangement note

The collection is arranged in three series: ; ; .Series I. Book projects, 1963-1995
Series II. Other
photographs, 1951-1995
Series III. Papers, 1958-1995